Sitapur (Uttar Pradesh): Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra clarified that she is being confined illegally at the PAC compound for the last 38 hours. The statement released on Tuesday evening stated that she has been placed under arrest as verbally informed by the arresting officer DSP Piyush Kumar Singh, Sitapur under section 151 at 4.30 am on Oct. 4, 2021.
At the time she was arrested, she was travelling within the district of Sitapur, approximately 20 km from the border of district Lakhimpur Kheri which was under Sec. 144. To her knowledge, Sec. 144 was not imposed in Sitapur. She was travelling in a single vehicle with four other persons, two local Congress workers and MP Deepender Hooda and Sandeep Singh. No security car or Congress workers other than the four persons accompanying her.
After being intercepted, she was driven to the PAC compound accompanied by two men and two women constables. She was not communicated by the UP Police or administration regarding the circumstances or the reasons, or the sections under which she was charged until 6.30 pm, Tuesday, 38 hours after the detention.
Priyanka Gandhi also stated that till then she was not served with any order or notice nor was shown the FIR. She has seen in social media that 11 people are named, including 8 people who were not even present, when she was arrested. They have even named persons who brought her clothes from Lucknow on Monday. She was not produced before a magistrate or any other judicial officer.
She was not allowed to meet her legal counsel who has been waiting at the gate since morning. She also mentioned in the statement that she is not detailing the physical force used on her colleagues or her at the time of the arrest. She is merely clarifying that she is continued to be held illegally at the PAC compound in Sitapur.
Later in the day, All India Congress Committee issued a statement to UP Chief Minister Yogi Adiyanath and senior officials of the state about the five-member delegation led by Rahul Gandhi intending to visit Lakhimpur Kheri on Oct. 6, 2021. They are going to meet the bereaved families and learn the facts first-hand. Though the UP administration has detained Congress General Priyanka Gandhi, other political parties were allowed to visit Lakhimpur Kheri, the statement pointed out.
In the same spirit, the Congress delegation visiting on Wednesday could also be allowed, the statement added
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Read: Local journalist among 8 killed in Lakhimpur Kheri violence
